Daddy's little Clairvoyant
by DontBlowUpMySpot
Summary: This is a Charmed (1998) crossover, i didn't post it in the crossover category because there aren't any stories there. Spencer Reid had a relationship with Melinda Halliwell while he was in the academy, only to find that she took more then herself when she left him.
1. Chapter 1

Spencer didn't like being in his apartment, at least not currently. Thankfully, his job kept him away about 75 percent of the time, but he tried filling that other 25 percent as much as he could. He found that more time he spent alone, the harder it was becoming to abstain from the Dilaudid. Three months clean, and while he considered that to be a milestone, he knew he had a long way to go before he would ever be able to trust himself again. His original plan for today had been to walk to the library that was about two blocks away from his apartment, but the thunder and lighting and strong winds deterred him from that plan.

He could take a cab but as the time ticked away on the clock the more he decided that leaving was a bad idea. He had the TV on full blast, but he couldn't focus on the show, he couldn't focus on anything other than that annoying little voice in his mind. He reorganized all of his books for the fourth time since he'd been home, he scrubbed every inch of his bathroom that he rarely used, and he cleaned out all of his old clothes that he didn't wear anymore. He was running out of things to do around his apartment.

He almost leaped to the door when he heard someone knocking on it, anything to break the insanity of being alone with his thoughts. Half of him expected to find one of his teammates on the other side, it wouldn't be the first time someone came to his door unannounced; Morgan had made a habit of it shortly after everything happened with Tobias Hankel, but the woman whom he saw when he opened the door was someone he'd never seen before. She wore a black blouse with a matching pencil skirt and a simple short pair of heels. It looked like her light brown hair had been straightened but it was rather damp from the downpour outside. She had a plain manila folder in her arm against her chest.

"Hello?" He furrowed his eyebrows as he attempted to guess what she was here for.

"Hi, I'm looking Dr. Spencer Reid?"

"Um, that's me." His confusion deepened as the woman's face relaxed after he confirmed his identity.

"Good, my name is Ashely Young. I work with Social Services." She gave him a warm smile and extended her hand for him to shake. He hadn't moved and she quickly dropped her hand after his lack of movement. "I came to speak with you in regard to your daughter Arabella Halliwell." Spencer's eyes widened and he felt his throat go dry in surprise. Daughter? He didn't have a daughter.

"I- you must have the wrong person; I don't have a daughter." He shook his head quickly. Ashely was unfazed by his response.

"Your name is on her birth certificate." She said simply, pulling the file out and opening it. "Her mother's name is Melinda Halliwell." Bells went off in Spencer's head as the name Melinda bounced around in his head. They had dated briefly while he was in the academy, she had cut the relationship off rather unexpectedly and ended all communication with him. He tried contacting her, he wanted to know what happened, what he had done, but he hadn't been able to find her. "May I come in?" It took a moment for Spencer to absorb what the woman said and when he did, he silently stepped to the side, closing the door behind her after she crossed the threshold.

"There's- no, Melinda would have told me if she'd been pregnant. Where, where is she?" He shook his head, sighed and ran his hand through his head.

"I understand your confused, and that this is a lot to take in. If you'd like a paternity test-"

"Yes, I would like a paternity test!" Spencer cut her off. Of course, he wanted a test, that wasn't a question.

"We can supply that." She said gently, letting his tone roll off her back. "As for Melinda…I have some unfortunate news." She gestured for Spencer to take a seat. Spencer shook his head; he didn't want to sit down. Ashely waited for a moment longer before continuing. "There was a fire two nights ago. Melinda, as well as the rest of her family, passed away. Arabella is the only survivor."

"What, what caused the fire?" Spencer's brain had a hard time wrapping his head around the idea of him having a child, babies scared him, he couldn't communicate with them, but then she wouldn't be a baby, if there was any chance of her being his kid, she would have to be five, a five year old could talk.

"They aren't sure, they're still investigating." Ashely told him calmly. "Arabella was found just inside the club, she suffered minor burns as well as severe smoke inhalation, she's been on oxygen since she was found and hasn't been able to speak, so it's unclear what happened." Spencer licked his lips, shaking his head.

"I- there's no way." Spencer was mumbling it to himself. He couldn't see himself being a father, he couldn't raise a kid, he was having a hard time taking care of himself currently. As he was mumbling, Ashely opened the folder and took out a small, 4x6 photo of the little girl and extended it to Spencer. It took him a moment to notice it, but when he did, his defensive stature loosed like a balloon being deflated. He gently took the picture in his hand.

The picture was obviously a school photo. Just like Spencer had guessed, she looked to be about five, sitting up straight on a stool in front of a grey background. Her hands were folded in her lap, her eyes behind thick rimmed black glasses, they were almost shut from the effort she was putting into her toothless smile and her chocolate brown wavy hair was tied up in pigtails.

"I understand your hesitation." Ashley said after giving him a few minuets to study the picture, "and I completely support waiting until after the paternity test to meet her." Spencer glanced up at her quickly before looking back down at the photo.

"She's okay?" Spencer asked.

"Physically." Spencer's stomach churned.

"How…how long will the test take?"

"It depends on how backed up our lab is, it usually takes two to three business days." Spencer shook his head at the answer. It was Saturday right now; he couldn't wait until Wednesday for an answer. A federal lab could probably tell him by tomorrow afternoon if they got the samples in before 5.

"I, I work for the FBI." Spencer cleared his throat. "Is there any way you'd allow one of our labs to test it? They could get the answer much faster."

"I…that would be breaking procedure-"

"Please, I can't wait until Wednesday." She looked at him empathetically.

"Would your supervisors be okay with you using your lab for personal reasons?" She cleared her throat.

"I can call in a favor." Spencer said quickly. He wasn't sure he should call with the request. Gideon or Hotch would probably know. He looked back down at the picture. He couldn't tell what the emotion he was feeling, it was hard to pinpoint anything concrete in his head.

"Okay." She said and Spencer nodded quickly, grabbing his phone off the coffee table where he'd put it when he got up to answer the door.

"Thank you, just let me make a quick phone call please."

0000

It took Spencer a good ten minuets to explain the situation to Hotch when he got him on the phone. Aaron had to get Spencer to slow down, making the agent repeat himself two or three times before Aaron was sure he got the full story.

"What do you need me to do?" Aaron asked, pushing his shock and questions to the back of his mind.

"Do you have any connections with any of the labs in San Francisco?" Spencer took a deep breath, tapping his foot as he waited for an answer.

"I do, but doesn't social services have their own procedures and labs for paternity tests?"

"Hotch, if I go through them, I'm going to have to wait until Wednesday before I get an answer- I- I need to know before then. She- she doesn't have any living family anymore; everyone was killed in the fire, she's in the hospital- I can't. I don't know, I need to know for sure- I can't wait. The social worker said she would okay us using one of our labs. I…please Hotch." Spencer looked back into his living room at the woman. She was doing her best not to outwardly look like she was eavesdropping, Spencer was too focused on his own thoughts and conversation that he didn't notice her.

"I'll make a phone call. I can't promise that they will do it." Spencer relaxed slightly. "I'll call you back in a few." Spencer hung up and gripped the phone tightly in his hand.

"He's going to call back." Spencer said tightly as he walked back into the living room.

"Okay. Would you like to talk about the next steps if the test comes back positive?" She asked. Spencer took a deep breath in through his nose before blowing it back out slowly. He slowly moved to chair from his chess table that was a few feet in front of his couch and sat down. He nodded.

"Well, you, if the test comes back positive, are ideal to take on custody." She said gently.

"I, I'm not, is there anyone else?"

"Unfortunately, there isn't. The entire Halliwell family was killed. If you do not take on custody, she will go into foster care." Spencer sighed, running his hand down the front of his face. "I know this will be a big change for you-" Spencer just looked at the floor. _There's no way. _He shook his head. "We have programs and resources to help with the transition."

"What…what does she know about me?"

"I'm not sure." Ashely said truthfully, "like I said before, she hasn't spoken to me or any of the police officers since they found her. But that's not uncommon for children who have gone through something traumatic." He nodded. It was common, he's come across it on cases several times in his field. "I fully believe she'll recover from this though. She's just going to need love and support." There wasn't anyway that Spencer was going to be able to provide the support the girl needed. He didn't know how to be a father; it wasn't like he had an example from his childhood. Before he could start the argument, his phone started vibrating and he hurriedly answered the phone.

"They'll do it Reid." Aaron told him, he left out the part where he had called in a major favor with several people he hadn't wanted to make a deal with. Spencer sighed in relief.

"Thank you." Spencer got the information he needed from both Aaron and Ashely before he got the test set up. He was relieved that he would know before Monday but horrified all at the same time. Ashely asked him a few more questions but it became clear to her that she wasn't going to get anything out of him until the results back from the DNA test. She said goodbye, leaving her phone number with him and heading back to her hotel room for the night.

Spencer looked down at the little girl in the hospital. She didn't look anything like the photo he'd been staring at for the last 24 hours. He decided that he still couldn't wait for the DNA test results to come in, he couldn't sit still, and he couldn't think past the looming thoughts of his possible child, so he bought a plane ticket and landed in San Francisco 3 AM Monday morning, he got the DNA results by 8, he wasn't surprised to find them positive.

Ashely was a little surprised to hear from him before the test came back, but reluctantly gave him the information for her hospital room.

Her skin was red, almost like she was sunburned. He was slightly concerned about the bandages that were coving her left arm and disappeared underneath her hospital gown, he was hopping they weren't too severe, but considering they had her transferred to the burn unit and administered skin grafts told him the opposite. She also had an IV in her unburned arm. He was most worried about her lungs; he could hear a deep wheezing every time she took and exhaled a breath. It had only been a few days and he knew that it could take a few weeks for the noise to stop and even longer for the lungs to fully recover, sometimes they never fully recovered.

He didn't understand how an entire family-over 25 people- just died like that. It didn't help that five bodies were missing, sure, they were still looking through the rubble but from what the police officer had told him, they didn't have much else to search through. The security camera from the front door showed all of the family going in. There was a back door, but if they had escaped, why hadn't they come forward? The story was all over the TV and papers, everyone knew Arabella survived, why would they leave her alone in the hospital? There was a little voice in the back of his head that said this was more than an accidental fire, but he was trying to ignore that. He didn't want to focus on that, what he needed to focus on, was explaining to the five-year-old that her entire family was dead. All of his education in psychology never prepared him for this.

"Uh, Dr. Reid." Ashely was standing at the door to the hospital room, her knuckles raised like she was about to knock. He glanced up from the child in the bed. "I have some papers I need you to fill out." She pulled a file out from under her arm and held it up in his line of sight. He nodded, wetting his lips. She tentatively came into the room, looking at the little girl as she did. "Has she woken up yet?"

"No." He scratched the back of his neck. Resting his elbows on his knees. Ashely opened the file and began scanning over the documents. She started telling him what document was what. He listened halfheartedly, reading over them anyway as they were handed to him, not that he really needed to, he knew what he was doing.

After he finished the paperwork, she pulled out the last document, "this is a list of resources in your area that will be able to help the two of you through this transition." She passed him the papers and he once again read over them. "I would recommend you get her into some kind of counseling." Spencer nodded.

"I've already been thinking about that."

"I also recommend you look into keeping contact with a few of the friends the Halliwell's have outside of the family. They might be able to help you understand her a little better, they also might help make the transition easier if she has familiar faces to speak to." Spencer nodded again. "The Halliwell's lawyer contacted me this morning asking for your contact information. I'm assuming she wants to meet with you about the family's assets and get all of that straightened out. I told her you would be here."

"Okay, thank you." He said. She watched him or a long second before standing up and saying her goodbye, she knew there wasn't much else she could help with." My card is attached to those documents, and I'll be emailing you your own copy of all of these." She held up the file.

"Thank you." He repeated, looking back down at Arabella. She nodded silently to herself and left the room.

**Thank you for reading! Please review if you enjoyed it and want to read more. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for the wait. Let me know what you think please! You don't have to watch Charmed to understand, i'll do my best to explain everything in the story or in authors notes so there is no confusion but i'm also opening to answering questions and will do so in a timely manner. Thanks for reading! **

Spencer didn't move from the chair next to her bed. He was worried that if he stepped out for a few minutes he would either miss her doctor, or she would wake up. He didn't want her to wake up alone. He requested her medical chart from the nurses desk and read through it a few dozen times. They had her on a lowest level of pain medication possible, they had her on oxygen and had scheduled breathing treatments every six hours for her lungs, he also found out that she has pretty severe asthma before the fire. He didn't like how little they were coming in to check on her, and he hadn't been able to speak to her doctor since he'd been there. He also couldn't find her glasses, he searched through her personal items bag and all around the room, she must have lost them in the fire. The hospital didn't have her complete medical history so he couldn't just order her a new pair, he'd managed to get the insurance information off of her medical chart thanks to the few times Melinda had brought her here due to asthma attacks, but the insurance company wouldn't release any information to him due to his name not being on the policy and they hadn't received record of him taking over custody, he couldn't really argue with that because he'd literally signed the papers hours before. The hospital was also dragging their feet when it came to pulling the medical records themselves.

He'd gotten a few text messages from his team members, wanting to know where he was. He texted Hotch to let him know that he'd be out for an extended amount of time, but silenced his phone after that, he was too mental preoccupied to explain the situation to anyone else.

"How's she doing?" Spencer jumped at the voice, he hadn't heard the nurse come in. "Has she woken at all?" The nurse, Taylor, was wheeling in her cart.

"No." Spencer said, "There hasn't been a change." He was leaning forward, his elbows resting on his knees.

Taylor looked over her vitals and changed her bandages. "The graphs are starting to heal nicely, no sign of infection." She said, trying to lighten Spencer's mood. "She should wake up soon." Reid nodded.

"If I were to order her another pair of glasses, can I get them delivered here?"

"As long as you have her name, and preferably room number on the package, they'll make sure it gets up here." Spencer nodded again.

"Have you gotten any information about her records? Do you know what medications she's been taking before this incident to manage her asthma? The smoke inhalation has to be seriously exacerbating her condition." He wanted to go farther in depth, but his heavy eyes and pounding headache prevented him from doing so.

"I'm afraid not, and I don't have very much to do with obtaining that information."

"Who does?" Taylor could hear the frustration clear in his voice.

"Uh, I'll have one of our social workers come up." Spencer nodded and didn't really feel satisfied with that answer. She left the room after that.

0000

It was about another hour before someone else came into the room. The woman wasn't dressed in any hospital attire. She was dressed pretty similar to Ashely's, but she had at least 20 years on the case worker and she had a briefcase in her hand. "Dr. Reid?" She asked as she moved into the room. Spencer stood.

"Yes." He said.

"Hi, my name is Faye Pearce, I represent the Halliwell's estate." She said. She didn't offer her hand and he didn't offer his. "I understand that you'll be taking over custody of Ari?" Spencer frowned at the nickname. It made sense though, Arabella was kind of a mouthful.

"Yes." He repeated her earlier answer. The woman's mood seemed to be solemn and he figured if she was close enough to the family to know his daughter's nickname, then she was close enough to feel the loss on a personal level. She took a deep breath and gave the sleeping girl a sad smile before pulling the chair that was on the opposite side of the bed from Spencer around onto his side. She propped her case on her lap and opened it.

"Well, as the executor of the estate, I'll start by saying that Ari won't be able to obtain any of the property until she's reached the age of majority." Spencer nodded.

"I understand." He said, "How much property? Is it one large plot of land or several different households that were owned by the other family members."

"Several different households, but. The Halliwell's were very thorough in their wills. Basically, most of the property can be sold, and the money be put into a trust for her, there are too many houses for you or her to manage until she's 18. The only house that is not to be sold until she reaches 18 and can decide for herself is the Manor. The house has been in the family for six generations, Ari would be the 7th generation to own the house."

"What happens to the family's belongings that are in their houses?"

"Well, all of it belongs to Ari, so you could have all the big-ticket items, jewelry and keepsakes, packed up and stored in the manor and donate the rest, or you could pack it all up, store it in the house and let her go through everything and decide when she's a little older. This is a very…heartbreaking but unique situation." She sighed, brushing her dark brown hair over her shoulder. Spencer had a lot of questions, but he wasn't sure which one's to ask first.

"Do you know…Have you met Arabella personally?" He asked, not sure how to formulate the question in a way that would prompt the answer he was looking for. "Do you know what she likes? Or her personality?" Faye gave him a sad smile.

"She's a very sweet girl. Very big heart." Spencer looked to her, frowning.

"Do you know if they've found anything in their investigation?"

"They're currently being uncooperative with sharing their information, but I'll be sure to pass along whatever they want to share." She said.

0000

Faye left after asking for a little information about Arabella's status and left after about an hour. Promising that she would look into expediting the girl's medical records. Spencer tried to focus on things that he could do. He would need to find a new place to live, his one-bedroom apartment wasn't going to cut it with a little girl. He could probably find a small two-bedroom house, some place with a yard, kids needed to be outside, but they didn't need to a ton of square footage just for the two of them. _What about toys? _She probably had enough toys in her current bedroom that she would want to take with her.

About an hour or so later, he heard a few noises coming from Arabella. Her fingers were starting to twitch, that was a good sign considering the damage he saw when they changed her bandages, her eye brows furrowed, and lips pursed as her eyes started blinking open. Spencer was suddenly thankful for himself keeping the lights off, he hadn't wanted to hurt her eyes at the adjustment when she finally did wake up. Spencer leaned forward in his chair, trying to think of what he was going to tell her. She blinked a few times, groggy confusion on her face, her attention seemed to be focused on the ceiling above her for the first few moments before her head turned towards Spencer. She jumped, her eyes widening, she opened her mouth underneath the oxygen mask, and as she voiced the first vowel of her sentence, she broke into a fury of racking coughs. Spencer pulled his chair even closer.

"Its okay." He tried to sound soothing and encouraging, "just try and breath." The chronic wheezing sound that came from her lungs since he'd gotten there worsened. "Don't talk for a little bit, okay? Its going to hurt a little." The little girl gulped, her good hand came up to her throat and she opened her mouth again. "Is it dry?" He asked her and she nodded softly. Spencer stood and went to the counter the was by the door. The nurse had left a small pitcher of water and some cups. Spencer poured her a small glass, knowing that she wasn't going to be able to stomach too much, before bringing it back to her. He helped her sit up, adjusting the bed for support, before he gently moved the mask and brought the cup to her chapped lips. "I need you to take very small sips, okay?" She listened for the first taste of the water but the second it moved down her throat, she greedily drank the remaining liquid. Spencer took the cup away after she started coughing again, this time with tears in her eyes. He set the cup on the table next to him.

"Momm-" she couldn't get the word out without coughing, but Spencer didn't need her to finish to know what she was asking for. He took a deep breath.

"Your mommy isn't…." He didn't know what to tell her, how do you tell a five-year-old that her mother is dead? She didn't even know who he was, he was just some strange man in her hospital room, a scary place and her mom was nowhere to be seen. "She's not here." He told her gently. He could tell her that her mother was in heaven, that might bring her some comfort, unless the family wasn't big on religion and then it wouldn't do anything, its not like he was Christian and would be instilling those beliefs from here on out, whatever comfort it might bring was only going to short term and hollow.

"Where?" This time she got the entire word out before coughing, each time her chest contracted, Spencer had to stop himself from flinching.

"Uh….she's." He didn't even know if she understood death, if she's lost anyone or anything before. "She died." He said softly, watching her reaction closely. She blinked at him a few times.

"Died?" She coughed again. She knew what the word meant, that's what happened to Grandma. But Mommy too? Why? Why would she die? Who was going to read her bedtime stories? Who was going to make sure there wasn't any monsters underneath her bed before she went to sleep? Spencer saw the confusion on the child's face morph into fear and…devastation was the only word that would fit the expression. She looked away from him, reaching for the mask on her face, for a moment he was surprised that she wasn't freaked out by it, but then he remembered that she had Asthma, she probably wore masks like it often for treatments. Her gaze caught sight of the bandages that went all the way down her arm and her eyes widened. She lifted her arm up slightly. Spencer didn't see any sign on pain on her face as she moved around. He was thankful she wasn't in pain, but that meant the fire damaged her nerves. "Why?" Spencer's heart broke at the tone of her voice.

He didn't know how to tell her, he didn't want to hurt her anymore then he had to. "There…there was a accident." He said slowly.

"Where's Uncle Wyatt? Uncle Chris?" She looked around the room like she was looking for proof that they were there or had at least been there. She didn't find anything.

"They…they." He sighed and had to break eye contact with her and look at the ceiling for a few moments. He looked back at her, "They were in the accident too." He said. "Everyone was in the accident." He felt like it would be better to tell her all at once, then have her go down the line of family members that could have made it out, getting her hopes up each time. He wasn't surprised that she started to cry. He didn't know what to do, didn't know what to say to make it better, there wasn't anything he could do or say. There wasn't a Band-Aid in the world that was big enough to make it better.


End file.
